Sixteen Year Old Develops New National Character Development Program For Students In Grades 1–5

June 26, 2008 - PRLog -- Atlanta, GA– Sixteen year old Kristina Coia announces the development of Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, a new national character development program designed for children in grades 1 through 5.  Mirror, Mirror on the Wall interacts with children using    play-acting to present positive values and morals.  The program was developed due to the popularity of the highly acclaimed Shine Through, the national character development program designed for middle school and high school students that Kristina developed.

“I developed Shine Through almost by accident,” said Kristina Coia.  “It came as a result of writing my first book, Falcon’s Prey.  I was asked to present my book to a group of girls. After writing a rough draft presentation about my book, Falcon’s Prey, I realized that it was unexciting,” said Kristina Coia. “To catch the attention of my peer audience, I had to include some real-life material to help students relate to the main character, Princess Ana. I created the idea of Shine Through, a motivational, interactive presentation that combines everyday challenges with solutions provided by scenarios from Falcon’s Prey.  I was surprised at the popularity of Shine Through and never envisioned a program for younger students until I began receiving calls and emails asking for such a program.”

“As a result I developed Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,” continued Kristina.  “I knew that to hold the attention of younger students I would need to develop a program that would interact with them while also teaching them.  I remembered when I was their age how I responded to character playing and fantasy and that was the basis for my presentation in Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.”
Based on the foundation of the original Shine Through program, this program is also set up in three stages:
Stage One - Be Creative!
•   Learn that reading books is a great way to use their imagination
•   Learn that, when they read, they learn a lot about the world around them, which will help them do well in school
•   Identify the difference between being and not being themselves through demonstration

Stage Two - Be Yourself!
•   Learn that being themselves means not letting other people make them change who they are
•   Learn, through play-acting, how the Purple Wizard can put a spell on the hero and change who they really are
•   Learn how the hero can reverse the Purple Wizard's spell by being themselves
•   Learn that "you are the only you that you know!"
Stage Three - Be Strong!
•   Find the courage to be themselves
•   Accept others who may be different from them
•   Learn how to correctly deal with bullies who try to take away others' self confidence
“The goal of Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is to teach young students  to be able to stand up to peer pressure and have the self-esteem to do that,” said Kristina.  “If all of us can do that, we will each shine through in our individual way.  By doing this early, it will allow them to have greater self-esteem and strength to resist the pressures they will face as they grow older.”

In addition to Shine Through, Kristina is a talented singer and released her second teen novel, Lymeria in 2007.  She is at work on her new series, the Princess series.

Additional information on Kristina and Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is available at http://www.mypurplewig.com.